#usedshield

AS FAR REMOVED AS THE FARM INTENTIONALLY IS    reality still manages to bare down on the exhausted group she encountered upon first arrival.   (   Truth be told, she hasn’t been sleeping much either. And if honesty came to settle between her briefings that felt more like a forecast to a hurricane, Natasha would admit that she would find some comfort in looking the way they all felt.    )    Precious moments bartered by way of her looking like some little boy with his finger stuck in a dam, Natasha has kept her eyes on Steve long enough to know that bow in his back was nearing to snap.    

They’ve been at each other’s side just long enough that honesty has carved a way into their skin. The barrier built between her former teammates and what waits for them now certainly doesn’t allow lies to take hold. 

“    This wasn’t inevitable, Steve.    ”

Her back presses against the cool stone of an unlit fireplace, something about the lack of warmth in a spot built for it offering some strange comfort. The I could have handled this, you could have called me’s gets caught up in her like soot in a chimney that needs resurfacing.   (   Honesty doesn’t necessarily mean saying everything.    )    “    If you start letting yourself get so wrapped up in what’s coming for you, none of you will make it out of this.    ——-    You know that, right?    ”

watching someone appear from towering waves and rocky projections is, in itself, a dramatic and borderline unnecessary entrance. witnessing that same scene with accompanying tugboat wreckage hauled behind by a rope as thick as his forearm is comic overkill.  “  sorry man,  this old gal’s out of service.  ”  

arthur takes his time dragging ship onto sea glass covered beach,  sunlight just beginning its slow crawl above a horizon behind.  “  unless you’ve procured a metric shit-ton of flextape.  ”  with groan she settles into her new home,  sure to be discovered by scavenging crew come noon. 

Tony hated when people with good intentions got in the way of him following a food chain of scumbags. One dead black market alien arms dealer couldn’t tell him anything. Especially when it seemed all his books were in code and any devices had bigger holes in them than the plot of ‘The Matrix’. When he set down in the mostly empty warehouse he did so with the hope that he might find something that the authorities missed.

He had the faceplate retract as he looked around. By the looks of it all the obvious places had been checked so Tony decided to start checking for places they didn’t find. “FRIDAY, do a full scan of the area and let me know if you find anything interesting,” Tony said.

“On it, boss,” FRIDAY replied.

He knew it would take a minute for her to get back to him so he started looking around on his own. There was some blood spatter on the floor and Tony shook his head. At least none of the authorities had been killed in the encounter. Apparently the guy had no idea how to use the stuff he had.

“Boss, I’ve detected company coming our way,” she said.

ah, yes. the proverbial carrot beginning any great story.

cavtat bay proved this lovely scenic getaway filled with dense foliage just tall enough to hide small industrial facilities beneath. honestly, she couldn’t tell what was worse when arriving : a black site filled to its eyeballs with new age chemical compounds or the fact that they had it listed as the nations doll factory. ( don’t worry little dubravka, you’ll only get trace amounts of toxins with your raggedy ann knock off. )

which led them here. jess on her ‘ borrowed ’ motorcycle built from human ingenuity and tin cans, ignoring the acrid scent of fire ( undoubtedly caused by steve ) accompanied by cacophonous poppin’ artillery. that was always the fun aspect of this life style, wasn’t it ? seeing beautiful sites, running away from people, not disclosing pertinent information unless under threat of marathon - ing harry and the hendersons ----- ❝ no, seriously. get on or get got. ❞

SHE was still trying to settle in to the apartment. It was clean, warm, had all the necessary amenities.... It was a really nice place. It just wasn’t home. She had perhaps been travelling for so long that she had forgotten how to settle down in stay in anyone place for a length of time. But perhaps it was a good thing to feel such a way - eventually she’d need to find her own apartment, move out. She couldn’t keep taking from Clint, especially when there may come a time someone else would need the apartment.

These thoughts flashed through her head at lightning speed and were also quickly pushed aside. They were thoughts she had been having for a while now. She knew this didn’t yet feel like home. There wasn’t much she could do about that, you couldn’t force a home on someone.

As she finished brewing her tea, she sighed softly and debated her next move. Stay in - read or watch tv? Go out, see the sights and relive past memories? Oh, the choices! Wanda had almost finished deciding (it was gonna be a book with tv in the background, of course) when a knock interrupted her train of thought. She blinked, then glanced towards the door. Clint? It had to be. Or maybe her neighbour, Kate. Strange.

She put down her tea (it needed to seep longer anyways) and walked to the door. An awful feeling passed over her that there was someone on the other side of her door who should not be there. No one knew she stayed here though, not yet. She’d just have to bite the bullet and check, her door had no “peep hole”.

As the door swung open, she tensed for a second in case the visitor was unwelcome. She then froze, surprised - pleasantly so. Steve Rogers. It had been so-- She couldn’t remember when she’d last seen-- There was so much to tell him. And he really shouldn’t be just standing out in the hallway like that! But before she could act on these things, a grin passed on her features. She smiled at Steve.